Between 1924 and 1955 Malta possessed an archaeological site just outside Luqa, which Sir Temi Zammit, C. Rizzo and John D. Evans believed was of some significance.
This letter is intended to encourage a reassessment of this site, known as It-Tumbata, in order to salvage what can be saved, especially in view of the circumstances befalling it in the last 80 years.
Just as in Gozo the Xaghra Stone Circle, till lately referred to as Brocktorff's Circle, was lost and forgotten between 1834 and 1987, it-Tumbata has been lost through human interference and today we are uncertain about its significance and importance. Evans's report of 1971 points in this direction:
"The first note of this monument (Museum Annual Report, 1923-4) records a visit which Zammit paid to it in company of C. Rizzo in January 1924. The remains lay in a field (It-Tumbata), south-west of Luqa, which was 'surrounded by huge megalithic slabs', and the main feature was 'a gateway... made up of two uprights about 2.7 m high'. There were about 2 m of soil over the field, and great hopes were entertained of the possibilities of the site.
"The following year, the field having been in the meantime acquired by the Government for the construction of a reservoir, Zammit made some trial trenches, and collected pottery of Copper Age types (MAR, 1924-5, p. ii). He continued hopeful of good results from excavation, but when the ground was finally cleared for the construction of the water-tank no meaningful structures were brought to light inside the 'enclosure', mentioned in the first report. Zammit's explanation of this situation in his final note (MAR, 1925-6, p. i) was that, 'in order to make an arable field all the stone walls beyond the entrance had been broken and swept away', though 'here and there traces of the building remained visible'.
"On a visit to this site in the spring of 1955 I saw a fair amount of the outer wall quite well preserved, with alternating long and short construction, as in the outer walls of many of the temples, and the two uprights which formed the entrance, and which faced north-west. I thought then that the arrangements suggested remains of the façades of a double temple.
"However, in view of the monumental gateway, and the slabs surrounding the field, I cannot help wondering if the monument may have been one more resembling the destroyed circle to the south-west of the Ggantija, in Gozo (see below, p. 179), rather than a temple of the normal type."
In view of this report by the archaeologist John D. Evans in 1971, perhaps it may be of interest today to reassess It-Tumbata, on and next to which lies a water reservoir.
I have been unable to gain access to the site, but a local farmer informed me that some megaliths and a cave or two still exist today. This needs verification, and if his description is reliable, It-Tumbata can be recovered to some extent.
It would be unfortunate indeed if a site approaching in some way the calibre of Gozo's Stone Circle has totally disappeared or been destroyed.
The destroyed circle south-west of Ggantija in Gozo, which Evans mentions, is surely the Xaghra or Tal-Qocca Stone Circle and hypogeum. Evans reports here some resemblance to the ancient site at It-Tumbata, lying just outside Luqa near the old air terminal.
A colleague has drawn my attention to the importance of this site, which perhaps should not to be further neglected.